Rob Finch/The OregonianJohn Shepherd, a visitor to Mount St. Helens, takes a photo of a small eruption in 2004. The volcano draws about 750,000 people a year.

It's the latest volcano to blow in the continental United States, an age-old natural drama broadcast live and the deadliest eruption in the nation's history. It burbled in a big way just four years ago. And its truncated top is a beacon for a metropolitan area that spans two states.

But since 2002, the 108,000-acre monument at Mount St. Helens has closed its visitor center, laid off staff and seen its budget remain flat in the face of increasing costs.

Meanwhile, about 350 miles south, the similarly sized Lassen Volcanic National Park has opened a visitor center, maintained staff and seen its budget increase 44 percent.

Lassen gets far fewer visitors and is far from a major city. But Lassen has a key advantage when it comes to drawing money and congressional attention: It's one of 58 U.S. national parks, under the wing of the relatively well-funded National Park Service.

The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is run by the U.S. Forest Service, which has struggled with its budget since timber harvests went down and wildfires went up.

The contrasting fortunes at the two destination spots are driving those who want to see the St. Helens monument be converted to a national park. The switch would give the mountain the spotlight it deserves, said Sean Smith, Northwest regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Today, nearly 30 years after Mount St. Helens big eruption, an advisory committee will begin drafting its recommendations for the mountain's future, including whether to pursue conversion to a national park.

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, one of four Washington Democrats who chartered the committee a year ago, says he's not prejudging the outcome.

There are good reasons for keeping control under the Forest Service. The agency has managed the mountain for a century, building strong relationships with scientists, volunteers and surrounding communities. Elk hunters, snowmobilers and other monument users worry that a national park would freeze them out. Conservationists fear it could spark too much development in nearby forests.

But the Forest Service's closure of the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center in 2007 has become "the symbol of perpetual funding inadequacy," Baird said.

"That has to change," he said, "one way or the other."

Congress established the monument in 1982, two years after the eruption. Funding increased through 1998, when the mountain had three year-round visitor centers.

About the same time, the Forest Service's firefighting budget started to grow. Since 2002, the service's spending on fire suppression has nearly quadrupled. Recreation expenditures dropped 3 percent.

Making matters worse: The budget for the monument isn't included in a single line-item that Congress can focus on, unlike the National Park Service's budget for its parks.

By 2001, Washington State Parks took over operation of the Silver Lake Visitor Center, near Interstate 5. Six years later, citing continuing deficits, the Forest Service closed Coldwater Ridge, leaving only the Johnston Ridge Observatory, which closes for winter, open near the mountain.

It's not all gloomy: User groups from hikers to snowmobilers credit the Forest Service staff at the monument for passion about their jobs. Lassen officials say they took Johnston Ridge and Forest Service interpretive programs as models when designing theirs.

The monument's climbing program and ranger talks remain strong. The Forest Service operates campgrounds and snowparks in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest outside the monument. Come 2010, the service's projects include spending $1.2 million for an amphitheater at Johnson Ridge.

"I think for a lot of the public the changes in services have been pretty seamless," said Ron Freeman, Gifford Pinchot's public service staff officer. "We're still attracting people, and we don't hear many complaints."

But the problems can't be ignored. The interpretive staff has shrunk. Important access roads are plowed less often and stay closed for long stretches, user groups say.

Invasive weeds, including scotch broom, are gaining ground. With no campgrounds or lodging, it's hard for visitors to plan for more than a day trip. And road and trail conditions have declined, exacerbated by flooding in recent years.

Susan Saul, a volunteer with the Washington Trail Association, campaigned to establish the monument. Windy Ridge, on the mountain's east side, once had interpreters and tidy picnic grounds, she said. Now the interpreters are gone, and weeds grow through the cracks.

"There was a lot of money spent in the '80s and '90s to develop facilities," she said, "and now they can't maintain it."

Some think the marquee status of a national park would help solve that, drawing money and visitors, a boon for the mountain and nearby towns.

President George W. Bush launched a $100 million Centennial Challenge timed to the park service's 100th anniversary in 2016. The goal: raise a matching $100 million from private sources and hire 3,000 more staff.

The parks service would likely resurrect the Coldwater Ridge center, Smith said, and add overnight lodging.

The 14-member advisory committee will draft recommendations, then hold public hearings. Lassen allows horseback riding but bans hunters and snowmobilers. Smith and Baird said national park legislation could specifically allow those activities at Mount St. Helens.

But Carl Schmalenberger, president of the Mount St. Helens Track Riders and a longtime snowmobiler, said Yellowstone's snowmobilers face ever-increasing restrictions.

If the mountain became a national park, he said, "it would just be a matter of time before there would be no snowmobiling allowed."

Saul and Emily Platt, executive director of the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, said development pressure around a national park would likely soar. They'd like to see the Forest Service itemize funding for Mount St. Helens, a bureaucratic act that could boost money.

On the other hand, Platt said, it would be good for the country if national park status drew more people to "experience the magic of Mount St. Helens."